


Celestials

by Serendipitous_Posts



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Planets, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24644881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serendipitous_Posts/pseuds/Serendipitous_Posts
Summary: The Doctors are like planets really; an object always close to the Earth, yet always so far away.And each iteration is different.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/River Song, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Twelfth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Celestials

They say Mars is the planet of action, of desire and passion and courage and aggression.

And that's what he is, isn't he? He wanted things sometimes; wants them so, so _so_ **much** , but he's too _clumsy_ , friends and family and loved ones slipping through his fingers like dust, leaving him grasping at empty air. 

The planet of the aliens, to humans at least, and _oh_ , how perfect for him. He spins and twirls and lets the universe decide where to take him next.

He hadn't known he was Mars, not at first, but others seemed to realise it quickly upon seeing rage in his eyes and red dust on his skin, coating him, protecting him. 

(The war planet, He's called, and he supposes that's fitting enough. _The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name._ He stares down at his dusty red hands. Oh yes, he mused, it's fitting.)

He's emotional, unlike his predecessor, sharp bursts of anger resting just under his skin. Grief is a palpable thing, settling around him almost like a shroud, whenever he talks about his planet, or about the pink and yellow human.

That same grief is what eventually drives away his other human, the earthwalker. Because Mars is aggression, and he grieves and he nitpicks, carefully avoiding how she clearly loves him, because he loved- **loves** someone else. And so she leaves. Not that he can fault her for that, especially when he finds out she gets with the boy who crossed worlds. 

He meets his best enemy again, Mercury, who slips right through his fingers, smiling as he refuses to regenerate. Mercury is poisonous to humans, dangerous to everyone, but first and foremost, he is Mars' friend, and Mars weeps red tears for him as he feels him melt away.

The girl who smells of ash and lava and _importance_ calls him a martian, and he jolts, because nobody has ever seem him immediately. The girl who smells of ash and lava and importance teaches Mars how to be kind, when they stand in a roman city about to be destroyed (and now he knows why she smells like that). 

While he may be Mars, he doesn't truly understand what that means until he's smiling, back straight, down at the humans across from him, announcing how time is his now, because he is Mars, the planet of war, of desire. And if he wants to save these people, then that's exactly what he will do. He has conquered the Time War, and time is his prize.

It backfires horribly, of course (it always does) and he's left standing alone, regretful (that always happens too.)

But despite all of his mistakes, his screwups, he doesn't want to leave yet. He is Mars, the second smallest planet, but he hasn't even been around a decade yet, and he wants to live. So when he hears of the drumbeats, he runs, taking the long way round, avoiding the fast approaching fate. But he has never been able to stay away from the Earth, it's very gravity pulling him back into it's orbit.

He is Mars, the planet of War, and he knows just how bad it can be. Rassilon tries to wiggle out of it, cracking space and time- **_Mars' space and time_** \- to do so.

And Mars blinks, squares his shoulders and thinks **no more.**

He falls through the roof, armed like he was the last time he thought that, and faces down his worst nightmare come to life. Mercury, slippery, undefined Mercury, steps up beside him, face grave and serious and _angry_.

Mars and Mercury are the two smallest planets in the Earth's Solar System, but that's okay because they stand together now, united by a singular hatred of one man. And then it's over, and Mars is alone once more, but that's okay, because he's _alive_ , and he learned a long time ago to count his blessings.

And then he's not.

There was never a choice though, was there? He wasn't going to leave the man who looked for him alone to die. He's **Mars** , and even though he's the planet of war and desire and aggression, he's also the planet of courage, of action. And this man is his friend.

And that's just Mars' story, isn't it? Caught between his desire and his duty. 

But this story must end, and so, with one last desperate plea, it does.

* * *

Mars doesn't want to go, but Jupiter waits for nobody.

The mix and match planet is already moving, not seconds after regeneration, a whirlwind of motion that almost sends him careening out the door. He is not one singular colour, unlike the others; a mixture of cream and orange and brown and grey, melding together so that it was impossible to tell where one started and the other stopped. He is a hurricane of colour, of emotion, dragging his chosen companions along for the ride.

Sometimes Venus will join them on their journeys. He hadn't known she was Venus, the first time they met, being chased by shadows in a forest of books, but he knows now. A part of him wonder how he never noticed. They're marriage is fast paced, incredible and so very,very dangerous. It's perfect for them. He wears the wedding ring always, after all, Jupiter has to have rings, right?

The girl with the fire for hair and the boy with the centuries for eyes are claimed by time and by angels of no religion. Venus leaves once more, leaving him to find a place that's as cold as him. Because that's the thing about Jupiter, isn't it? It looks warm, but it's one of the coldest planets out there, and he is so very, very cold.

He meets the most impossible girl, and then remeets her. And then meets her again. It's impossible, it should not happen.

It's _wonderful_.

She stays with him, right up until the end, when the Universe grants him another shot, another try. She begs with him, to please, please, please stay, and he is honestly confused.

He is Jupiter. He is Optimism and Understanding and Growth itself. 

And if the Universe itself is asking him to change; who is he to object?

* * *

Jupiter dies as it lived- understanding and ready for the change.

He sheds his layers, changing silver as he prepares to show his true self to the world. As Jupiter takes his last breath, the Moon takes his first.

Every form has reflected the galaxy in some way, but none more so than this one. The stars themselves have nestled in his hair for protection. His eyes seem ever changing, from grey to blue to green. He is a force of nature, changing everything just by existing, creating tidal waves wherever he goes. He is the one everyone bases their idea of time off of, and he is the one who is always, always circling the Earth one way or another.

Humans have always looked to the Moon for safety and guidance, but only a select few have ever gotten the chance to see it up close and personal. Even fewer have managed to make contact with it. But there are always exceptions, exceptional people who he allows in- a young women who breathes time, who has been with the Moon since before he was the Moon, an even younger girl whose hair seems to shine rainbow at times, a man who sounds like metal, and Venus herself, so far away save for the times she's not.

He finds that his old friend has also shed his form- now a she, now Uranus. An unpredictable change, but not an unwelcome one, as he tries to nudge her course- to get her to also start circling the Earth. But not even the Moon, the most influential of the planets, can make this happen. In the end, it is her own choice.

He is not Mars, over emotional, nor is he Jupiter, a naive optimist. He is himself, and that's all he wants to be.

And he doesn't want to keep doing this, floating above the air, untouchable, unreachable save for a couple of close humans. Humans who are all gone. So the Moon plants his feet in the snow, lifts his chin, and dares the Earth below to try and change his mind.

But not even the Moon can withstand the Universe's pleas to _stay alive stay alive please,_ and he sighs, loosening his stance. Already he can feel it, the burning inside, energy like no other burning through his veins as he desperately breathes in Moondust.

The Moon is setting. It's someone elses turn now.

* * *

The Moon says goodnight to the world, and the Sun is born.

Different from the others, she glows golden and bright, light bleeding from her eyes, from her teeth, dripping down her fingers. She may fall to the Earth like a shooting star, but make no mistake, she is a Sun, something entirely new.

The burning never leaves her, swirling around in her chest, the ground burning underneath her feet, telling her to _run leave go explore._ It makes her giddy, makes her laugh with the strength of it all, this energy almost knocking her over, causing her to bounce on the tips of her toes as she spits out the last bit of moondust and flames, golden powder flickering up into the atmosphere, to the shock of the boy and his grandma.

Of course, the problem with being the Sun is that you can never be too close, or stare at it too long, less you face the consequences. A women who lived up to her name demonstrated this, falling just as the Sun had not hours before. But this women was no shooting star, no Sun, a wonderful, glorious human. And a human could never survive that.

She tries to leave them, after that. Tries being the key word, because these humans, these amazing, wonderful, beautiful humans, so much more complicated and perfect than a simple Sun could ever hope to be, insist on coming.

There's a hundred things she could say, to try and stop them. No being the biggest one. But she is selfish. The Sun burns, keeping the Earth safe and warm and providing it light, but it never has any visitors, all those who see it knowing that to get to close will only lead to burning and death. 

Except these people. So she takes them with her.

And along the way, she reunites with Uranus, no longer Uranus now, but Pluto, harsher and angrier than she remembers. "Have you been home?" He asks her, and the Sun already knows what's coming.

Her home was destroyed.

And the Sun continues to burn.

**Author's Note:**

> This kinda got away from me. I was originally just gonna write about how I saw 12 and 13 as the Moon and Sun respectively, but then my other planetary associations got dragged in. I've always associated those planets with those characters, don't know why, but there we go. I've never written in this kind of style before- purple prose? Symbolic? Descriptive? So I thought I'd try it out.
> 
> Oh and whenever the doctor mentions the Universe, they're referring to the companions


End file.
